Basic training two
by Chameleons
Summary: This is basically about a training exercise which is a hundred day course taken when cherubs are older. James and Kerry are partners again but they are fifteen and going out, a bit slow but if you want me to update just review and ask.
1. Awake

**This is quite short but let me know if you think I should continue. Please review it makes my day!**

James woke in the shelter he and Kerry had built before and was temporarily disorientated, he wasn't sure where they were in the world but all he knew was it was bitterly cold. He didn't want to get up yet even though he knew he had to so he lay, content, content as you could get on training. He watched Kerry's rhythmic breathing, her chest rising and falling and he watched her face; It was flushed from the cold and a few tendrils of hair were stuck to her face but she was still beautiful.

James moaned slightly to himself and rolled over and pulled his sleeping bag off his legs, the shock of cold was absolute and intense, he scrambled for his pack to pull on extra layers. Once he was properly layered up he took out he tiny gas stove from his pack and attached a bottle of gas to it, then he clicked the lighter and turned it on, over the past few days the hiss of a gas stove made his heart leap as it was the mention of hot food.

The ration sachets Speaks had given them were in Kerry's pack, so James was forced to lever himself round Kerry's sleeping body. However balance was never James' forte and he crashed down on top of Kerry, he grabbed the pack and swung back, expecting a whack for waking her up. He grabbed the spoon and rations from Kerry's pack, along with a canteen, then he slit the packets and poured the flavourless slop into the pan. Kerry was blinking and rubbing her eyes, clearly trying to come to terms with the cold.

"Why didn't you wake me she asked, sounding mildly annoyed, James looked at the pan and convinced himself that if the gas stove was between himself and Kerry the risk of being injured was low.

"Well" he stuttered "you just look pretty when your asleep". James sighed with relief when Kerry pecked him on the cheek, then she snorted with laughter.

"The look on your face..." She giggled "anyone would have thought you were waking a viper". She pulled on layers and hopped round their sleeping bags to where James was cooking their breakfast,

"your doing that wrong" she said "your supposed to boil the water first, then add the rations".

"Sorry miss" he droned but Kerry ignored his comment and pushed him out the way to rectify the damage that had been done to their breakfast.

"Can you do anything right" she said exasperated, James sighed, it had been a long time since basic training.

"You know what they should call this" he said and Kerry looked up sceptically

"What"

"basic training two"

**Did you like it? Please review to tell me even if you didn't. I also have another CHERUB fic called 'Kira' that for some reason doesn't appear at the top when I post it. If you could spare a couple of seconds to go onto my profile and access it from there that would be great.**


	2. Maps

**Sorry another short and probably boring one but I wanted to post before I went away. Please review! I will respond as soon as you do!**

James and Kerry walked through the snowy wasteland wearing snow boots and carrying walking poles, progress was slow because of their heavily padded clothing and packs.

"I think we're in the arctic" James said speaking just to fill the silence,

"of course not" Kerry snapped as if he'd just said the most ridiculous thing in the world "if you'd counted the minutes we spent blindfolded in the plane you'd know we haven't gone nearly that far.

"Gees, cool it" James said raising his hands, "I was just trying to make conversation",

"Sorry" said Kerry kicking the snow more viciously than necessary "the colds getting to me",

"Don't worry about it" James said "it's doing that to me too, lets check the map". Kerry unzipped a pocket in her heavy coat and pulled out their only map with a gloved hand. "I don't see the point of a map if there are no features, they may as just as well give us the compass bearings and be done with it." Kerry as usual ignored his comment and studied the map carefully,

"Compass" she demanded and James produced the compass from his pocket, "here take the map a minute and try and work out where were going, my hands are too bloody freezing" James took the map from her but miss timed it and it blew out of their hands, James stood frozen too the spot staring at the map as it spiralled away, being tossed by the wind. "You idiot" Kerry yelled and James snapped out of it, "go get the damn map or it'll be your fault that were banned from missions for five months". James tried to run after the map but the the wind and snow were swirling and crumpling the paper till it was further and further out of his reach, soon the snow was so thick his eyes were blurred and he could barely see Kerry would was but a few metres away. The map was gone. He trudged back to Kerry starring at his snow boots feeling a sickening feeling of dread, "you complete idiot" she yelled, the slap stung more because of the cold but James didn't mind, he deserved it.

"Sorry" he mumbled,

"Sorry was do you mean sorry" her voice was muffled by the winds, "I'm fifteen, your sixteen James do you know what five month of no missions would do to our cherub careers?" She shouted.

"We could always fake an injury" James said hopefully then his heart sunk as he saw Kerry smile an evil smile,

"I tell you what, if you don't stop talking now we won't need to fake an injury" she said icily "now come on, we need to get to the check point before the deadline". James was shocked,

"But Kerry..." He called but she had already wandered off and he had to jog to keep her from disappearing into the snowy wilderness. "Kerry" he said when he had caught up with her, "there's no way we'll be able to find our way to the checkpoint without a map" Kerry stopped walking,

"I'm going to go on to the next checkpoint, I've got the compass and the only rescue flare ad when the sun comes up I'll be able to navigate a bit by that. If your not coming with me as far as I'm concerned you can rot in the snow"

**yeah, yeah I know Kerry isn't that evil to James when they are going out but I find it funny when she is so sorry. Review!**


	3. Nice

**Sorry very short once again (I'm making a habit of it arent I, oh well) here we go here is the requested nice moment with James and Kerry. Please review! Robert Muchamore owns CHERUB**

They arrived at the checkpoint mere minutes before the deadline and James collapsed backwards into the snow and drained the entire canteen into his mouth.

"You two cut it fine" Speaks said tossing them each an energy bar, James ripped the packet off it and crammed it into his mouth.

"That is soooo good" he moaned, Kerry ate her bar more slowly and James was expecting a telling off for eating like a pig but instead Kerry leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.

"Sorry" she said and she broke her energy bar in half, "have it, just don't tell Speaks we lost the map". James was in torment, he was starving but he felt bad about taking his girlfriend's food. In the end his hunger won out and he stuffed the bar in his mouth and gave Kerry a kiss. "Ew, don't kiss me when you've got food in your mouth"

"Sorry" he swallowed hard, "that better" he said and kissed her again.

"Much better" Kerry said wrapping her hands around James's neck.

"Er hum" Speaks walked over to them, "Sorry to break up you two love birds but you might want to take the opportunity to get some sleep if your going to have any hope of reaching the checkpoint tomorrow."

"Your right" said Kerry "have the others got back yet?"

"Yep" Speaks replied "there all just through there in the shelter, I think they were talking about pooling the gas everyone had, you get a new stock in the morning."

"Cool" said Kerry "I would have hated it if anyone hadn't made it, come on James, lets go in and warm up"

They walked into the shelter and were greeted with a wonderful rush of warm air, Gabrielle rushed up to them,

"I'm so glad you guys are here, I thought you weren't going to make it"

"So did I" said Kerry giving James the evil smile, James grimaced internally, he reminded himself not to find himself in the dojo with Kerry any time soon after training. "Someone here lost the map"

"You didn't!" Gabrielle laughed, "Lucky you had a spare in your pack then"

"What" said Kerry

"All the packs were equipped with a spare map, didn't you look?" James sighed at the look on Kerry's face, there would be no avoiding the dojo this time, he was as good as dead.


	4. Toilets, Trees and briefings

**I'm sorry I haven't updated in aaaages. Btw there is a poll which can be found on my profile deciding who the head instructor should be in the next update, a bit boring but please vote! Anyhoo here we go...please review!**

James woke up feeling warm and contented, the heaters had been on full all night. He pulled his sleeping bag up to his chin and stared upwards at the corrugated roof of the shelter, where condensation was forming from the collective breath of the trainees. He looked over to where Kerry was sleeping...should have been sleeping. Kerry was gone. James sat upright fast his mind running through a hundred bad things that could have happened to her. Then he reminded himself that she may have just gone to the loo or something. Still James wanted to check, he eased himself out of the warm cocoon that was his sleeping bag and slipped his stiff, wet boots onto his feet. James tiptoed tentatively through the shelter taking care not to step on one of the sleeping bodies which covered the floor. Eventually he reached the door, he slid his hand into the door, moving it slowly to avoid creaking. Then he slipped through the gap. James trudged over the day old snow towards the hut a few metres away that was the toilet (if the covered hole in the ground could be called such a thing) and put his hand on the damp canvas.

"Kerry?" he called rustling the fabric, "Kerry, are you in there?"

"who's that?". It was Gabrielle's Jamaican tones.

"Oh sorry, Gabrielle I was looking for—"

"—Kerry?" Gabrielle finished for him emerging from the tent. "I think she was sitting in the tree out here the last time I looked." She said indicating with a shrug that she thought Kerry's behaviour was as odd as he did.

"Thanks, Gabrielle" James said as he began to crunch his way through the snow toward a certain tree.

"Your pretty committed getting out of the warmth when Kerry probably just went for a shit" Gabrielle yelled after him. As James walked off he asked himself why did he come out, although a viable excuse would be to earn himself brownie points to make up for losing the map he knew that wasn't the answer. James reached the base of the tree and looked up at the Kerry shaped shadow on a branch. The light of the dawn illuminated Kerry's face as she stared down at him,

"What are you doing here?" Asked Kerry with her own brand of a very disdainful look.

"Looking for you—why are you out here?" James asked the dark lump. Kerry tilted her head on one side,

"a rampaging rhinoceros came into the shelter and chased me out here. No I'm reading the briefing." James checked his watch before finishing for her,

"up a tree, at seven minutes past one in the morning. Are you mad?"

"I thought it would be best to start early. Look I know you don't want to be out in the cold so why don't you go and get another couple of hours of sleep—"

"—I just—"

"—you'll be whinging at me about how tired you are tomorrow."

"I want to stay and help". Kerry had nothing to say to this. James jumped and caught one of the lower branches of the tree, then used his feet to walk up the trunk and sit grab onto a branch that stretched above where Kerry was sitting. Kerry considered her options for a moment while James dangled one handed from the branch before offering her hand. James used her hand to ease himself down gently onto the branch but he slipped at the last moment and plonking heavily onto the wood and rustling the leaves. Kerry rolled her eyes,

"So" said James a little out of breath from his fail of a climb, "lets see that briefing then". Kerry budged up along the branch towards James, rustling the briefing as she did so.

"Well seeing as your fat arse almost broke the branch I figured it would be wise to stay closer to the trunk." Kerry said with a sigh and passed over the briefing. James ignored the comment and asked,

"where did you get this from anyway?"

"didn't you see, someone had left them next to all of our heads." James stayed quiet, he hadn't noticed. "Some times I despair James, only you would be able to walk over all of the briefings and not notice them." James ignored this comment too and frowned at the couple of sheets of A4 Kerry had given to him. "Well" Kerry pressed,

"It says...I have hidden the last horcrux, and I intend to destroy i-"

"James seriously"

"Sorry" James stared at the briefing trying to turn the funny looking squiggles his teacher called a language into words. He smirked slightly, "it looks like we're going caving"


	5. Compass

**Sorry the updates are taking so long...you know homework and other stuff but hopefully this is long enough to make (well long for me) please, please review and tell me what you think and point out the inevitable hundreds of mistakes. **

James grunted slightly in surprise as he woke up with his head leaning on a tree trunk. He panicked for a second, unable to remember where he was before he fully came round. Kerry's head was resting on his shoulder fast asleep, her breath rose in plumes in the cold light of the morning. The briefing had fallen down from the tree and it was caked in a layer of dew and snow on the floor a few metres below. James checked his watch, 9:32.

"SHIT!" he yelled passionately successfully waking Kerry up. She wobbled on the branch and James caught her just before she fell. She smiled a relieved smile,

"sorry I just forgot where I was there, why were you shouting?". James was taking deep breaths to stop himself from getting out of control,

"Kerry" he said calmly putting a hand on her shoulder, "please don't flip but it's nine thirty"

"What!?" she exclaimed at at least twice the decibel level James had done. James waited to be blamed for this but was happily surprised when she did not. Kerry jumped down from the tree landing lightly and absorbing her weight into the balls of her feet before scrambling around in the snow gathering up the briefing papers. James followed suit but landed in a less dignified way which ended up with him sprawled sideways.

Part of his mind was thinking, 'you were up a tree, in the middle of the night, in some country in the middle of nowhere. What. the. hell.' By the time his brain had processed this Kerry was halfway back to the shelter. He hastily sprinted after her bending down at one point to pick up one of the papers that had flown out of her grip. They sped into the shelter which was now cold and empty, devoid of the trainees and more importantly heaters which had once covered its floors. James and Kerry hurried to fit their sleeping bags into their stuff sacks, a task which is always harder when your in a rush. After they had assembled their belongings James paused,

"Kerry I'm not sure where we're going and we haven't had the time to pick over extra supplies." Kerry straightened up and stretched her back,

"your right we should study the map a bit more" She grabbed the crumpled pieces of paper and scanned them, eyes moving over the lines of instructions, "all we need until we reach the cave is the compass bearing if we stick to that we'll be fine." James didn't answer, he was busy rummaging through the supplies a couple of metres away,

"What?" he said turning round with a no brand chocolate bar in one hand and a frozen banana in the other. Kerry rolled her eyes,

"I told you yesterday James" she said slightly exasperated, "I packed enough dried rations for the whole trip at the first checkpoint we don't need to top up on food." James shrugged and tossed the banana over his shoulder but before he left he grabbed six chocolate bars and stuffed them in his huge coat pocket.

"You'll thank me later"

* * *

Kerry and James had been walking through the snowy plain now for at least an hour and had seen fabled no cave opening told of in the briefing.

"Caving? Caving!" James ranted half to himself as they trudged through the now ankle deep snow. "At what point in our CHERUB careers are we ever going to end up in a cave". Kerry had been blocking James comments now for the past half hour as she was concentrating on the compass she was holding in an ungloved hand. Her fingers were numb but it was the only way she could keep it steady enough for the fine tuned navigation. A couple of degrees could make a mile when they had walked a while.

"mmhm" murmured Kerry which satisfied James,

"how many caves do you find in places like this, I always thought caves were supposed to be hot" James was starting to get on her nerves but she held it in by mentally replaying that time in the dojo when she had given him a sturdy kick in the gut.

"mmhm" Kerry said again whilst frowning harder at the compass. The needle had started spinning round and round quickly. James glanced over at Kerry and saw the compass,

"No way" James gasped, "it's not-"

"the North Pole" Kerry finished, "it can't be, it's just not possible"

"bloody hell" said James scratching his head, "this crap, it has to be one of their tricks." Kerry grimaced, "it's not nearly cold enough or the right environment to be the North Pole so I guess it has to be" Kerry fumbled around in her jacket pocket and pulled out a sturdy penknife and flicked out it's serrated blade.

"What are you doing" asked James as Kerry stabbed the glass of the compass which shattered into a hundred spiderweb cracks. With no fear of cutting her hands, the heavy gloves where protection enough, Kerry brushed the glass shards clear and levered the back plate behind the dial with the knife. James watched anxiously hovering from one foot to the other as Kerry dissected not only the compass but their way forward and the threat of five months suspended from missions. Kerry realised that she could not complete this fiddly job with her thick and clumsy gloves so she pulled them off and passed them to James, sucking air through her teeth at the bitter cold. She had just about made a gap big enough to get her finger through and she gently eased the thin metal up enough to peer in at the inner instruments. Kerry had examined a compass in this way during basic training all those years back and so she had some idea of what one should look like. There was all the usual bits but with a bit of poking, Kerry uncovered a tiny magnet with a short distance trigger attached.

"Ah ha" said Kerry triumphantly, "I've found it."

"Found what?" asked James squinting into the dark space, "all I can see it lumps of metal" Kerry resisted the urge to tell James how he should know all this,

"It's a tiny magnet," she said, "it's designed to be compatible only with this particular compass. It's a very clever design, it can be activated by remote control."

"how far does this remote control have to be?" Kerry frowned at the tiny cluster of electronics,

"It's hard to tell...wait theres a model number." she strained her eyes to see it, "0394!" she announced like it was supposed to mean something.

"and?.." said James unconvinced.

"I suppose you wouldn't know...0394 is a special group of short distance control/triggers I used them in a mission."

"And you remember that?" said James disbelievingly. Kerry ignored him,

"They have to be operated from no further than twenty metres." The idea leapt in James's mind, the training exercise was headed by speaks as the lone proper instructor. The others helpers were a mixture of recently made ex-cherubs and some older agents still on cherub campus. If they found whoever had triggered the compass would most likely be one of them, if he and Kerry could find them and ambush them, they would have a huge advantage. James quickly explained his idea to Kerry while she painstakingly removed the transmitter from the compass and reassembled the various pieces.

"I dunno" said Kerry as she gave the dial a quick spin before pocketing the compass. "If we get this wrong and it's Speaks he might make the rest of training harder."

"Aw come on." replied James bending his knees slightly, "what's the chances he will come out here and freeze his butt off when he can get someone else to do it."

"I suppose" said Kerry reluctantly.

"It will give us a massive advantage, we'll be able to listen in on their radio to see if they've got any tricks planned." Kerry shrugged,

"Whatever, you only live once, but if something goes wrong...the shit is landing squarely on your shoulders."


	6. Dave

**:) i updated! by the way I don't know where the place is I didn't really think about at the beginning and now it doesn't fit anywhere. Just imagine a place or something i dunno. **

Their search for the phantom instructor had taken them to a landscape littered with waist high, snow topped shrubbery.

"Maybe we should leave it" said Kerry anxiously as they ducked down behind yet another bush. They were keeping their voices down because, if they were correct, someone could be hiding just a few metres away. James had been really into the idea, but after ten minutes of searching even he couldn't deny they were flogging a dead horse.

"I guess your right" James replied dejectedly. They began to trudge through the snow towards where the compass dial pointed. Suddenly James stepped on something odd he yelped and looked around wildly to find Kerry had disappeared. He looked down at his feet and immediately felt guilty. His boot was covered in blood from where he had unknowingly splattered Dave Moss's nose with his heavy boot.

"Hey James" said Dave slightly dazed from the impact to his face. James quickly moved his boot off and bent down quickly to see if he had caused any damage. He anxiously examined his face but to his relief he had only busted his nose. Dave had concealed himself among the thickest of shrubbery by piling snow on top of himself so only his face was visible. This sounded like a very obvious form of disguise but he had packed the snow in so he only looked like another badly formed lump among masses.

Dave anticipated that James would be a little pissed about the compass thing but he had no idea what the pair had planned. Just as Dave made to get up Kerry sprung from a behind a drooping half-formed bush barely a metre away. She had the cord she and James had prepared by removing it from their back pack straps stretched between her hands. Before Dave knew it Kerry's knees were pressing down hard on his shoulders either side of his head and James was restraining his hands.

"Nice one" Dave grinned as he thrashed around convinced he would be able to break the small girls grip. Kerry held firm however and wound the cord around his hands tying them tightly in a knot she had learned in a little mini course she had done on campus. It looked impossibly tight and difficult to undo, but most people, especially CHERUBs would, given time be able to set themselves free. James dealt with Dave's feet and in under a minute the two CHERUBs were standing proudly over his trussed up body. As James moved in to grab his pack Dave sensed an opportunity and he lunged forwards sinking his teeth into the uncoated part of his arm where the Glove met his jacket. James recoiled clutching his arm a thin dribble of blood making it's way down his sleeve. Kerry surprised James by leaping back on top of Dave and slapping him hard around the face,

"That was my boyfriend." James was shocked by this but he managed to keep it together. While Kerry still had Dave, James took the opportunity to snatch Dave's pack. He scrambled back a few metres and ripped the pack open eagerly. He tipped the contents into the snow,

"Hot flask" he said excitedly prowling through the items littered around him, "detailed maps...and English briefings!" he announced triumphantly. Kerry tightened the bindings on Dave's feet before joining James in picking through the items. They found three rescue flares all of which they left by Dave head. Kerry unhooked the radio from his belt and turned it on, she had worked with radio's of similar models and was confident she knew how to work it. She pressed all the right buttons but all she got was a hiss of static, she realised it must be coded to a secure frequency.

"What's the frequency" she demanded turning back to Dave. Dave grinned lazily,

"Why should I tell you that?" Kerry bunched her fist over his injured nose. "Okay okay" he said quickly shielding his face with his joined hands. "the codes 5628". Kerry moved away and keyed the code into the radio, she twiddled the fine tuner on the side a couple of times and immediately she got a rush of voices. Kerry grinned and slid the radio into her belt,

"Bingo" James had finished rummaging through the stuff and crawled over to Dave,

"Sorry mate" James was surprised when Dave didn't speak but then he noticed Kerry had crammed his gob so full of snow that he couldn't. James smirked slightly and scooped the compacted snow enough for Dave to spit the rest out.

"Wow James your girlfriend sure is feisty" he was slightly out of breath.

"I wouldn't mess with Kerry" James said keeping his voice low. Kerry's voice came from behind James,

"I heard that!" James mock winced and turned around.

"see you at the next base" he said to Dave before straightening up and brushing the snow off himself.

"Check his pockets" Kerry commanded James,

"Wha?"

"Put your hands in his pockets and check he hasn't got any other stuff."

"No way! you do it, I don't wanna be called a poof" Kerry just looked at him, "okay fine". The few minutes were the most awkward in his life. He slid his hand into Dave's pocket and found nothing except a half-eaten packet of polos. The trouble was though, with all his outdoor gear, far more than he and Kerry's put together, there were many. Dave didn't help by saying things like, 'hello James er this is getting a bit close and personal isn't it' all the while. By the time James had finished his face was burning with embarrassment and he was tempted to re fill Dave's mouth with snow. He turned around to find Kerry holding up a camera,

"You?" he said aghast as Kerry pressed the button to stop the recording. Kerry grinned,

"that is so going on youtube"

"No it's not!" he gasped as he made a lunge for the camera.

"Nope" said Kerry with a grin dodging James by rolling head over heels in the snow cushioning the camera by her stomach. Eventually James got lucky and he knocked her over in the snow, he was feeling triumphant when Amy's words came back to him..."I you were on top of Kerry it's because she let you". Kerry was laughing hysterically and she didn't even try to stop James as he snatched the camera out of her hand. He fumbled with the buttons on the modern looking camera before working out it was touch screen. He navigated to the gallery and deleted the video.

"There" he said relieved, "No more video". Kerry still hadn't stopped laughing,

"Don't you see James!, it's an E camera*. Kyle and Bruce already have the photos." James groaned and rolled off Kerry.

"Why?" he asked to no one in particular.

*E camera as in a camera you can email from. To be honest I don't know the specifics but just ignore the fact there wouldn't be wifi where they are.


End file.
